Electronic camera having a focusing circuit for performing a plurality of focusing operations on the basis of an in-focus level and/or an image area

Abstract

In an electronic camera, during a photographing operation for photographing a white sheet of paper or the like to obtain white balance data, a plurality of distance measuring points provided in an automatic focusing mechanism are restricted to only the one that is located at a central portion of the image plane. Further, a determination level used for determining an in-focus state in the automatic focusing mechanism is set lower than where an ordinary object is photographed. Accordingly, the photographing operation for obtaining white balance data can be completed for a short time. Furthermore, if the automatic focusing operation itself is inhibited during the photographing operation for photographing a white sheet of paper or the like to obtain white balance data, that photographing operation can be completed for a very short time.

1. A camera comprising:
 a white balance correcting circuit for correcting white balance of a picked-up image by picking up an image of first object on the basis of white balance data obtained by picking up an image of second object; 
 a focusing circuit arranged to perform a focus operation on the basis of an area included in the picked-up image so that an image of object obtained by picking up changes from de-focus state to in-focus state; and 
 a control circuit for, in a normal pick-up mode, controlling to pick up the image of the first object by causing said focusing circuit to perform a first focusing operation on the basis of a first area, 
 wherein, in a manual white balance input mode, said control circuit controls to pick up the image of the second object by causing said focusing circuit to perform a second focusing operation on the basis of a second area narrower than the first area, and 
 wherein, in the normal pick-up mode, said white balance correcting circuit corrects white balance of the image of first object on the basis of white balance data calculated in accordance with the image of second object picked up in the manual white balance input mode. 
 
   
   
     2. A control method for controlling a camera having a focusing circuit performing a focus operation on the basis of an area included in the picked up image so that an image of object obtained by picking up changes from de-focus state to in-focus state, said control method comprising the steps of:
 correcting white balance of a picked-up image by picking up an image of first object on the basis of white balance data obtained by picking up an image of second object; 
 controlling, in a normal pick-up mode, to pick up the image of the first object by causing said focusing circuit to perform a first focusing operation on the basis of a first area, controlling, in a manual white balance input mode, to pick up the image of the second object by causing said focusing circuit to perform a second focusing operation on the basis of a second area narrower than the first area, 
 wherein said correcting white balance, in the normal pick-up mode, comprises correcting white balance of the image of first object on the basis of white balance data calculated in accordance with the image of second object picked up in the manual white balance input mode. 
 
   
   
     3. The camera according to  claim 1 , the second area is a center area of the picked-up image. 
   
   
     4. The camera according to  claim 1 , the second object is white in color.